GM chief faces scrutiny in House over recalls

1of9General Motors CEO Mary Barra testifies on Capitol Hill in Washington, Wednesday, June 18, 2014, before the House Oversight and Investigations subcommittee hearing examining the facts and circumstances that contributed to General Motorsâ failure to identify a safety defect in certain ignition switches and initiate a recall in a timely manner. (AP Photo/Cliff Owen)Photo: Cliff Owen, FRE

2of9General Motors CEO Mary Barra testifies on Capitol Hill in Washington, Wednesday, June 18, 2014, before the House Oversight and Investigations subcommittee hearing examining the facts and circumstances that contributed to General Motorsâ failure to identify a safety defect in certain ignition switches and initiate a recall in a timely manner. (AP Photo/Cliff Owen)Photo: Cliff Owen, FRE

3of9Former U.S. Attorney Anton Valukas, investigator , Jenner & Block, testifies on Capitol Hill in Washington, Wednesday, June 18, 2014, before the House Oversight and Investigations subcommittee hearing examining the facts and circumstances that contributed to General Motorsâ failure to identify a safety defect in certain ignition switches and initiate a recall in a timely manner. (AP Photo/Cliff Owen)Photo: Cliff Owen, FRE

4of9General Motors CEO Mary Barra, CEO, left, and former US Attorney Anton Valukas, investigator, Jenner & Block, are sworn-in on Capitol Hill in Washington, Wednesday, June 18, 2014, prior to testifying before the House Energy and Commerce Committee's Oversight and Investigations subcommittee hearing on examining the facts and circumstances that contributed to General Motorsâ failure to identify a safety defect in certain ignition switches and initiate a recall in a timely manner. (AP Photo/Cliff Owen)Photo: Cliff Owen, FRE

5of9General Motors CEO Mary Barra listens while testifying on Capitol Hill in Washington, Wednesday, June 18, 2014, before the House Energy and Commerce Committee's Oversight and Investigations subcommittee hearing examining the facts and circumstances that contributed to General Motorsâ failure to identify a safety defect in certain ignition switches and initiate a recall in a timely manner. (AP Photo/Cliff Owen)Photo: Cliff Owen, FRE

6of9The House Oversight and Investigations subcommittee ranking member, Rep. Diana DeGette, D-Colo. holds an automobile ignition switch as she addresses General Motors CEO Mary Barra and former US Attorney Anton Valukas, investigator , Jenner & Block, as they testify on Capitol Hill in Washington, Wednesday, June 18, 2014, before the subcommittee's hearing examining the facts and circumstances that contributed to General Motorsâ failure to identify a safety defect in certain ignition switches and initiate a recall in a timely manner. (AP Photo/Cliff Owen)Photo: Cliff Owen, FRE

7of9Family members of a victims of a faulty GM ignition switch places photographs of the people killed when the ignition switches failed in their cars, on a wall in the hearing room on Capitol Hill in Washington, Wednesday, June 18, 2014, where General Motors CEO Mary Barra and former U.S. Attorney Anton Valukas, investigator, Jenner & Block, testified before the House Oversight and Investigations subcommittee hearing examining the facts and circumstances that contributed to General Motorsâ failure to identify a safety defect in certain ignition switches and initiate a recall in a timely manner. (AP Photo/Cliff Owen)Photo: Cliff Owen, FRE

8of9Former US Attorney Anton Valukas, investigator, Jenner & Block, listens at right as General Motors CEO Mary Barra testifies on Capitol Hill in Washington, Wednesday, June 18, 2014, before the House Oversight and Investigations subcommittee hearing examining the facts and circumstances that contributed to General Motorsâ failure to identify a safety defect in certain ignition switches and initiate a recall in a timely manner. (AP Photo/Cliff Owen)Photo: Cliff Owen, FRE

9of9CEO Mary Barra and former U.S. Attorney Anton Valukas, who investigated how General Motors built thousands of cars with faulty ignitions, were able to provide more information Wednesday than Barra did on April 1.Photo: Cliff Owen, FRE

Mary Barra, chief executive of General Motors, came under renewed attack Wednesday from lawmakers who were not satisfied with the company's investigation into its delayed recall of millions of cars and challenged her on whether its most recent recalls should have been made earlier.

Rep. Fred Upton, R-Mich., chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, produced a string of internal emails from 2005 that showed that one GM employee had experienced a stalling problem in a Chevrolet Impala.

The employee, Laura Andres, said in an email that the Impala she was driving had inexplicably shut off when she hit a bump in the road.

That vehicle, however, was not recalled until this week, when the Impala was among 3.4 million cars worldwide recalled for a faulty ignition key. Those vehicles recalled were in addition to the 2.6 million Chevrolet Cobalts, Saturn Ions and other small cars with a defective ignition switch that the automaker has linked to at least 13 deaths and 54 crashes.

But Rep. Diana DeGette, D-Colo., said there could be up to 100 deaths associated with the problem.

Barra was making a second appearance before the subcommittee. On April 1, she was criticized when she declined to answer many questions over why GM had taken more than a decade to act on the faulty ignition switch. Repeatedly, she said she was waiting for the results of an internal investigation by Anton Valukas, a former federal prosecutor hired by GM to examine the reasons for GM's failure to act.

On Wednesday, she arrived bearing the results of that investigation, which was released on June 5.

"I think the Valukas report was comprehensive," Barra said. "It was very far-reaching."

Valukas' testimony was his first public comment on the report, which detailed how layers of GM engineers, lawyers and safety experts failed to understand and correct a defect that put drivers and passengers at risk of death and serious injury.

"The story of the Cobalt is one of a series of individual and organizational failures that led to devastating consequences," Valukas said in his prepared remarks.

While Valukas' report concluded that GM did not deliberately cover up the defect, it found that employees displayed an appalling lack of urgency to do anything about it.

Lawmakers at the hearing were skeptical of many of the conclusions in Valukas' report, which was paid for by GM and released June 5.

The report found that a lone engineer, Ray DeGiorgio, was able to approve the use of a switch that didn't meet company specifications. Years later, he ordered a change to that switch without anyone else at GM being aware.

Panel members said that defied credibility at a company with 210,000 employees. Rep. Jan Schakowsky, D-Ill., produced emails showing that other employees were informed of the change.